A 3-year-old tweet of Donald Trump’s became the most retweeted post of the night after the Republican presidential candidate denied knowing Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
The tweet, from 2013, shows that Trump was looking forward to meeting Putin at the Miss Universe pageant. In it, Trump asks, “Will he become my new best friend?”
Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow – if so, will he become my new best friend?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2013
The post was recirculated on Twitter on Wednesday evening during the third, and final, presidential debate after Trump denied being friends with Putin. “I don’t know Putin,” Trump said on stage after being asked whether he would condemn any international influence in the election. “This is not my best friend.”
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According to a Twitter spokesman, the total volume of tweets for the third debate was not as high as the second debate, which became the most tweeted debate of all time, with over 17 million tweets.
The top tweeted moment from the debate was Trump and Clinton’s discussion about the treatment of women. The second most tweeted was Trump’s refusal to say that he would accept the results of the election. Rounding out the top three most tweeted moments was the conversation about Russia in which Clinton called Trump Putin’s puppet.
Like the previous two debates, Trump had the largest share of Twitter conversation, with 59 percent, compared to Clinton’s 41 percent. But Clinton gained the most followers during the 90-minute debate, adding 13,000 followers compared with Trump’s 6,000 additions.
The top tweeted topic of debate night was foreign affairs followed by the economy, reproductive rights, terrorism and immigration.
